Carbon build-up...secondary air system cleanout

[srai001]

Hi-

My dealer is telling me I need to have the engine torn apart and the head removed and the secondary air system cleaned of carbon deposits. The service engine soon light is on and has been triggered by this carbon build up. Is this something that other people have had a problem with? I know it is a problem with the M5. I have a 2001 X5 with 47,000 miles. They are telling me it is going to be $8,000 to clean the head.

Any thoughts? Anyone else?

[ChristopherM3]

$8,000 to clean the head?? Wow......how much does a new engine cost?

[vinuneuro]

Originally Posted by srai001

Hi-

My dealer is telling me I need to have the engine torn apart and the head removed and the secondary air system cleaned of carbon deposits. The service engine soon light is on and has been triggered by this carbon build up. Is this something that other people have had a problem with? I know it is a problem with the M5. I have a 2001 X5 with 47,000 miles. They are telling me it is going to be $8,000 to clean the head.

Any thoughts? Anyone else?

Go to your local Autozone or AdvancedAutoParts or Ace Hardware and get a can of Seafoam. Follow the directions on how much to put in the oil and throttle body. It is amazing at cleaning out carbon deposits. You'll see a lot of smoke as soon as you use it, thats just the carbon burning.

Anyway, I'd expect BMW to cover this, 47,000 miles is nothing. Maybe Rob can share his expertise.

[maX5]

Yeah, +1 on that seafoam.. It works wonders. Cleans all the carbon buildup....

[motordavid]

Tell Stlr to get bent, maybe use Seafoam, go for a long drive!
Oh, and have Stlr show print out from eng light "on" that lists "carbon buildup".

Lettme guess: your '01 is just out of warr. If that eng light had come on within warr. you can bet the stlr would not have performed an $8K "decarbonizing" job, . All motors get some carbon...how they determined that is the cause of the eng light, is pretty well done for a scam.
That dlr could be doing phishing scams he's so good, WTF!
GL,md

[chubyball]

Hey guys, does the Additive cleaner that you put in the gas tank will do it? I think Autozone sell Chevron System cleaner, it cleans Cats, Injector etc....